We are a couple living in Melbourne, Australia and are already in our mid-30s. We are just in the first years of our family we are building. Though we have been together for more than 10 years already, we just had our first child 2 years ago. Because we have a little child, we are working harder to make sure we provide him the things he needs to live a quality life. After many weeks of always working so hard, we noticed that we are having muscle pains and fatigue that later on affect our work performance and overall health status. This pushed us to look for an alternative way to help us regain our good health and fit body. In the end, we stumbled upon and choose to try acupuncture.

But before we started looking for a clinic, my partner and I studied about the effectiveness of acupuncture first. What we only know about acupuncture is that it is a classical oriental science method of medical treatment. Well, that was before. After some search on the web, we have learned that it has been in practice in China for more than 8,000 years now. It started from the Daoist people that practiced meditation and observance of the universe’s flow of energy. As a traditional medical practice, acupuncture was developed greatly during the Sui and Tang dynasties.

When it comes to its effectiveness, the fundamental healing principle of acupuncture comes from the belief that the body has energy flow patterns, which are called Qi. When these patterns are disrupted, the person suffers from different diseases and unhealthy body conditions. The use of very tiny needles that are inserted into the skin is believed to be effective in restoring the energy flow of the body. As a result, the body heals from the diseases it acquired during disruptions of energy flow. We learned these things from Melbourne Chinese acupuncture – Freedom Chinese Medicine.

Aside from the amazing history, we have also learned about acupuncture’s numerous benefits such as reduction of migraines and headaches, improvement of chronic pain in the back, neck and knee, treatment of insomnia, improvement of cancer and cancer chemotherapy recovery, prevention of cognitive decline, and aid in pregnancy, labor and postpartum health. We became excited when we learned that the tiny needles are effective in improving the condition of pained and fatigued muscles.

Because we were already convinced that the Chinese practice is going to help us tremendously, we started looking for a clinic in Melbourne that offers the traditional medical practice. Luckily, we were able to find one that we think is reliable and professional. We visited the clinic immediately and consulted with one of the acupuncture practitioners. We explained our situation and the reason why we went to the clinic. The practitioner told us that a few sessions of acupuncture will greatly improve our condition. He also mentioned further that once in a while visit to the clinic will also benefit us in the long run. He said that there are long-term benefits that we will be thankful for if we started early in having regular sessions of acupuncture.

After several minutes of consultation and discussion, we had our first experience of the tiny needles. Of course, it felt strange and unfamiliar. After several seconds, we felt like weak currents of electricity are working inside our body. It’s not discomforting though. We actually started to feel relaxed and at peace after the first few minutes of having the tiny needles inserted into our skin. We were surprised with the very relaxing feeling the needles were giving us during that first experience.

We left the clinic very happy and satisfied. We also set the date of our next appointment because we really felt relieved from the muscle pains and fatigue that have been giving us feeling of discomfort while on our work.

When we returned home, we did further research about the benefits of acupuncture. We learned that the medical practice is effective in treating numerous diseases, conditions and symptoms such as headache, hypertension, hypotension, facial pain, epigastralgia, dysmenorrhoea, dysentery, biliary colic, allergic rhinitis, depression, neck pain, pain in dentistry, nausea and vomiting, low back pain, knee pain, induction of labor, morning sickness, malposition of fetus, postoperative pain, periarthritis of shoulder, tennis elbow, stroke, sprain, sciatica, renal colic, and rheumatoid arthritis.

It’s been several days since our first session of acupuncture and we can’t help but smile because we can still feel the effects. We feel like our body is relaxed and our blood is able to flow freely.

When you have kids, especially boys, you know that your home will be full of noise and rough play. Though we are young and healthy parents, sometimes accidents can happen. One day, as my husband was playing with the boys, as usual, he suddenly exerted himself too much. He thought it would be ok after a couple of days, his back and neck pain from making the wrong move was not going away.

It was not a very serious injury, although he was suffering a lot especially when he tries to bend. Surgery was not necessary, but we were desperate for a solution to the pain. It surprised us as well as to how such a small wrong move could debilitate my husband. Because we were finally desperate for a solution, we decided to get and appointment with a top Balwyn physiotherapist on Whitehorse Rd.

We had hoped that they could offer us a treatment that could deal with my husband’s aching neck and back. More than that, we also hope that he could finally be able to move normally like before.

Meeting with the physiotherapist, we felt a bit silly to come in because of an injury from playing with our kids. However, the specialist at the clinic didn’t look surprised and in fact, told us that most of neck and back pain happen while doing normal daily activities. They start because of either bad posture or poor body mechanics when lifting things or bending. It can also happen because of lack of flexibility, fitness, and strength.

The wrong movements do not automatically lead to neck and back pain. It is, in fact, caused by strain on the joints between the vertebra, strains on the muscles, disc lesions like bulges and herniations, or sciatica coming from pressure on the nerves. As we grow older as well, normal deterioration of joints and discs and consecutive trauma like fractures can also lead to problems. At the same time, aching in your neck and back can be symptoms of conditions like osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, scoliosis, and other rheumatological conditions like rheumatoid arthritis.

After explaining the various causes of pain, the physiotherapist clarified a very important point, that their treatment cannot actually cure these conditions. However, what they can do is to reduce the aching and improve the patient’s movement to restore or improve their quality of life. This way, they could continue to be active and reduce the effect of the conditions on their life.

Once this was clear, he started diagnosing my husband’s injury. Not all injuries and conditions are the same, especially because the neck and the back have a complicated network of vertebrae, joints, and discs. The first, vertebrae, are bones that form the structure of the spine and protect your spinal cord. Joints, on the other hand, can be found between these vertebrae and their ligaments, tendons and muscles. It allows these to move in various directions. Lastly, the discs are also in between vertebrae and function as shock absorbers.

To diagnose what happened when he was playing with the kids, the physiotherapist had to check which discs on the back became damaged. Poor lifting can lead to tears on the outer wall of these discs, leading to bulges pushing on nerves. Avoiding such awkward and incorrect movements will allow for proper movement and will avoid pain.

Therefore, part of the treatment is to promote the right movement that will keep the back in the optimal position. But before that, the physiotherapist explained that the first goal is to deal with the pain. This way, my husband would not need to suffer any longer.

The first step was to use massage therapy to ease the back and neck so that it will be able to stretch and move much easier. Other treatments were also used, like heat, acupuncture, and even gentle electrical therapy. Lastly, he was taught special movements that will lessen the pain and heal the bulging disc. This can be done through using the right support for sitting and how to properly moving the lower back. Teaching the patients to treat themselves and regain independence was a critical part of the treatment.

In the end, as the pain lessened, the physiotherapist also introduced exercises to make my husband’s muscles stronger and loosen tightened muscles and joints.

After the physiotherapy treatment, we both came out of the experience knowing more about our bodies, and how to avoid future pain in the back and neck. At the same time, my husband could finally feel better without needing to take a lot of painkillers! Because the risk of re-injury was quite high, especially when he goes back to playing with our sons, it was also important to find long-term solutions and even avoid such injuries in the future. The fact that we could go back to enjoying our sons’ childhood was already a big help for us. Our experience with the physiotherapy clinic brought us back our lives!

Physiotherapy has a close link with massage therapy when it comes to treating pain in various parts of the body. Click here to find out another interesting topic about managing pain with the application of a therapeutic massage.